Introduction
The Neverwinter companion system is a hired-helper system available for all characters. At rank 16, the quest "A Companion" becomes available from Sergeant Knox in Protector's Enclave. This quest is not required to use the companion system as companions acquired via trade, auction, zen store, promotion, or other means can be used as soon as a character completes the tutorial.
You can hire a number of companions that initially take the form of an item in your inventory. Double clicking the companion item will activate it. Companions can range from simple mercenary humanoids to pet-like creatures and even glowing stones that circle the head. A single companion can be summoned at any time outside of combat to help you in combat. Each character in a five-player group can summon their own companion. If a companion runs out of health during combat, it can be revived by approaching it and selecting the option in the same manner as reviving a fallen player. Unlike a player it doesn't have a limit on how frequently it can be brought back during the same battle. If combat ends while a companion is out of health it will automatically revive with all hit points returned. If a companion dies in a manner other than losing health (for instance by falling off a cliff or into a spiked pit) then it will have to be summoned again.
Companions are classified by the following types just like classes:
Companions can be purchased for Gold, Astral Diamond, Zen, Seals, Ardent Coins, Trade Bars, Glory or found as rare drops. Most companions can be acquired from the Grand Emporium in Protectors Enclave, or from the Zen market. A unique companion is also included in several of the games purchasable Packs.
At level 16 you will be given the A Companion Quest. The reward is your choice of one of four companions for free. The Cleric Disciple, Man-at-Arms, Wayward Wizard and Dog are the reward choices and are tradable. All four are of white quality, with a max rank of 15. All four of these, along with the Sellsword, are available to purchase for 2 
each from the companion vendor who you will be directed to when you receive the companion quest.
1. This is the rank of your companion. A rank 30 companion is comparable to a level 60 player. Notice the (Max 15)- this means that the highest rank this companion can achieve is rank 15. A companions rank can be upgraded by one rank (White--> Green--> Blue--> Purple) with the COMPANION QUALITY UPGRADE feature being added with the Fury of the Feywild expansion on 2013-08-22.
. This feature lets you invest Astral Diamonds to upgrade the quality of a companion when it is already at Max Rank
- White quality pets have a max rank of 15 (Costs 300k
to upgrade White to Green) - Green quality pets have a max rank of 20 (Costs 500k
to upgrade Green to Blue) - Blue quality pets have a max rank of 25 (Costs 750k to upgrade Blue to Purple)
- Purple quality pets have a max rank of 30
- White quality pets have a max rank of 15 (Costs 300k
2. This is your companion's experience bar. While your companion fights at your side, it will gain experience. Once it has gained enough experience points to ascend to the next rank, the "Begin Training" button will appear. Click this button to send your companion for training.
- While your companion is training, they will be unable to fight at your side or gain experience. Just as if the companion was idle.
- You can speed up the training process by contributing an amount of astral diamonds toward their training. The time that the companion is unavailable for while in training is accumulative. Each rank the companion is sent to train for is added together if you skip a training period. There is a shorter training time for one rank than waiting to train after your companion gains two ranks.
3. These are your companion's powers. Mouse over them for details.
4. Every companion has three equipment slots starting with one slot open at rank 1. As your companion gains ranks, the other two slots will unlock at rank 15 and rank 25.
- Your companion can wear gear from any class, of any quality- even gear that has been enchanted.
5. These are your companion's Runestone slots automatically starting with one slot open at rank 1. As your companion gains ranks, the other two slots will unlock at rank 10 and rank 15. Here you can give your companion additional bonuses depending on what kind of slot your companion has.
6. As your companion gains in rank, they will gain additional costumes or skins at ranks 10, 20 and 30.
7. While there is a limited number of active companion slots, you can have a large number of Idle Companions. You start with three active companion slots, a fourth active companion slot unlocks at Character Level 30, and a fifth active companion slot unlocks at Character Level 60. You can buy early unlocks of these last two active companion slots with Zen. Idle companions must be switched into an active companion slot before they can be summoned. You can only have one active companion summoned to assist you and gaining experience at a time.
List of Companions
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Before Patch NW.5.20130812b.13, Cleric Disciples, Faithful Initiates and Lillends were Controllers. However, the patch applied only to newly-created companions. Previously-created companions remained Controllers.
Active Bonuses
Active Bonuses are a new feature introduced in Module 2: Shadowmantle. Companions provide bonuses when in an active slot, even if not summoned. The bonuses vary by companion, and the bonuses' size depends on the companion's quality. These bonuses are disabled in PvP. It is impossible to have more than one companion that shares the same default name in your active slots (i.e. you can't have two [Skeletal Dog]s active at once even if renamed). However, if multiple active companions share the same bonus (i.e. the [Storm Rider] and [Wayward Wizard] bonus to Recovery) the values do stack.
| Name | Bonus |
|---|---|
| [Cleric Disciple] | +25/100/190/300 Regeneration |
| [Con Artist] | +25/100/190/300 Critical Strike |
| [Damaran Shepherd] | Affects Companion +2/4/?/?% Critical Chance |
| [Dog] | +25/100/190/300 Armor Penetration |
| [Man at Arms] | +25/100/190/300 Defense |
| [Sellsword] | +25/100/190/300 Power |
| [Shieldmaiden] | +25/100/190/300 Deflection |
| [Skeletal Dog] | +25/100/190/300 Life Steal |
| [Wayward Wizard] | +25/100/190/300 Recovery |
| [Archmage's Apprentice] | +55/105/165 Life Steal +55/105/165 Power |
| [Armored Orc Wolf] | +100/190/300 Critical Strike |
| [Blink Dog] | +2/3/5% Combat Advantage Damage |
| [Boar] | Affects Companion +50/?/?% Critical Severity |
| [Cave Bear] | +400/760/1200 Hit Points |
| [Cold Iron Warrior] | Affects Companion +20/30/?% increased damage versus Fey creatures |
| [Duergar Guard] | Affects Companion +10/15/25% Additional Threat. |
| [Faithful Initiate] | +55/105/165 Recovery +55/105/165 Defense |
| [Fawn of Shiallia] | +100/190/300 Recovery |
| [Flame Sprite] | +1/?/?% Action Point Gain |
| [Frost Mimic] | +100/190/300 Defense |
| [Green Slime] | +200/?/? Defense while you are Controlled. |
| [Hawk] | +55/105/165 Armor Penetration +55/105/165 Critical Strike |
| [Helmite Paladin Ghost] | +55/105/165 Recovery +55/105/165 Regeneration |
| [Ioun Stone of Might] | +2/3/5% Stamina Regen |
| [Ioun Stone of Radiance] | +55/105/165 Life Steal +55/105/165 Deflection |
| [Mercenary] | +55/105/165 Power +55/105/165 Critical Strike |
| [Moonshae Druid] | +220/420/660 Hit Points. +55/105/165 Recovery. |
| [Pig] | 1/1.5/2% of your Max HP healed every second you are Controlled |
| [Portal Hound] | +100/190/300 Deflect |
| [Quickling] | +100/190/300 Movement |
| [Renegade Evoker] | On suffering a critical hit Does fire damage to nearby enemies |
| [Renegade Illusionist] | +55/105/165 Life Steal +55/105/165 Deflect |
| [Skeleton] | +55/105/165 Life Steal +55/105/165 Power |
| [Storm Rider] | +55/105/165 Power +55/105/165 Recovery |
| [Swashbuckler] | On suffering a critical hit +200/?/? Critical Strike chance for 5 seconds. |
| [Wild Hunt Rider] | On Encounter Use 2/3/5% chance to increase damage by 10% for 5 seconds |
| [Wolf] | +55/105/165 Armor Penetration +55/105/165 Recovery |
| [Acolyte of Kelemvor] | +3/5% Incoming Healing |
| [Blacksmith] | On Damage Taken 15/25% chance to reflect 10% of damage taken. If the same target is hit 4 times it will reflect 3 times the damage taken. |
| [Cantankerous Mage] | +15/?% Control Bonus |
| [Cat] | Reduce falling damage by 25/50% +125/200 Deflect |
| [Dancing Blade] | +3/5% Critical Severity |
| [Dancing Shield] | +1/2% Deflect chance |
| [Dread Warrior] | On Damage Taken 10% chance to become enraged, increasing threat generation by 15/25%. |
| [Fey Panther] | +105/165 Life Steal +105/165 Deflection |
| [Ghost] | Affects Companion +5/10% Damage bonus |
| [Hunting Hawk] | On At-will Use Damage bonus increases as the range increases with a maximum of +7/10% bonus damage at 100' |
| [Ioun Stone of Allure] | On Encounter Use 7/10% chance to slow target |
| [Jagged Dancing Blade] | Affects Companion 5/10% chance to reduce target's Defense |
| [Leprechaun] | +5/10% AoE Damage Resist |
| [Lightfoot Thief] | On Critical Hit Foes nearby target will bleed for Level based damage every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. |
| [Neverember Guard] | On Damage Taken 1/2% chance to heal 1% of Max HP |
| [Phase Spider] | Reduces the damage effect of Combat Advantage against you by 10/25% |
| [Slyblade Kobold] | Increases damage against Rooted or Stunned targets by +3/5% |
| [Tomb Spider] | On Encounter Use 1/3% chance to inject deadly poison into target |
| [Wererat Thief] | On Encounter Use 3/5% chance to poison target |
| [Angel of Protection] | On Resurrection You are shielded for 10% of total your Hit Points |
| [Aranea] | 3% chance to have lightning strike target |
| [Book Imp] | +2% Recharge Speed |
| [Fire Archon] | Increases damage against targets with less than 30% Hit Points by +5% |
| [Galeb Dhur] | Deal up to 10% more damage based on the percentage of damage you have taken |
| [Honey Badger] | Damage taken reduced by 10% when HP is less than 35% of max |
| [Icosahedron Ioun Stone] | +10% XP Bonus |
| [Lillend] | On Daily Use Heal nearby friends 2% of their MaxHP once every 30 seconds |
| [Mystic Phoera] | On Resurrection +1000 Defense +1000 Recovery Duration: 10 seconds |
| [Panther] | Increases damage against Prone targets by 10% |
| [Phoera] | On Resurrection +1000 Regeneration +1000 Power Duration: 10 seconds |
| [Pseudodragon] | 20% chance to restore some Stamina/Guard when attacking |
| [Rust Monster] | On Damage Taken 25% chance to inflict a 5% damage debuff on attacker. Stacks up to 3 times. |
| [Sprite] | +2% Action Point Gain |
| [Sylph] | +50% Control Resist |
| [Vicious Dire Wolf] | 5% chance to Interrupt your target |
| [Will-O'-Wisp] | +25% Control Resist +15% Control Bonus |
Companion Advancement
- Whenever a character is rewarded experience, the currently-summoned companion also receives 75% of the rewarded experience.
- When training multiple ranks at once, the training time is summed.
- Companion training can be hastened with Astral Diamonds.
- The formula appears to be: training time in seconds * 1.111 = AD cost.
- Waiting during training does not reduce the speed up cost. It costs the same at the start as near the end.
| Rank | Total XP | XP to Next Rank | Training Time | Speed Up Cost | Features Unlocked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 258 | Powers 1 & 2, Runestone Slot 1, Equipment Slot 1, Skin 1 | ||
| 2 | 258 | 772 | 30s | 33 |
|
| 3 | 1,030 | 1,030 | 1m 30s | 99 |
|
| 4 | 2,060 | 1,545 | 3m 30s | 233 |
|
| 5 | 3,605 | 2,318 | 5m 00s | 333 |
|
| 6 | 5,923 | 2,832 | 7m 00s | 466 |
|
| 7 | 8,755 | 3,605 | 9m 30s | 633 |
|
| 8 | 12,360 | 4,378 | 12m 00s | 799 |
|
| 9 | 16,738 | 5,407 | 15m 00s | 999 |
|
| 10 | 22,145 | 6,180 | 18m 00s | 1,199 |
Runestone Slot 2, Skin 2 |
| 11 | 28,325 | 7,210 | 21m 30s | 1,433 |
|
| 12 | 35,535 | 8,240 | 25m 30s | 1,699 |
|
| 13 | 43,775 | 9,528 | 30m 00s | 1,999 |
|
| 14 | 53,303 | 10,557 | 35m 00s | 2,333 |
|
| 15 | 63,860 | 11,845 | 40m 30s | 2,699 |
Runestone Slot 3, Equipment Slot 2 |
| 16 | 75,705 | 13,133 | 46m 30s | 3,099 |
|
| 17 | 88,838 | 14,420 | 53m 30s | 3,566 |
|
| 18 | 103,258 | 15,707 | 1h 01m 00s | 4,066 |
|
| 19 | 118,965 | 16,995 | 1h 09m 30s | 4,632 |
|
| 20 | 135,960 | 18,540 | 1h 18m 30s | 5,232 |
Skin 3 |
| 21 | 154,500 | 19,828 | 1h 29m 00s | 5,932 |
|
| 22 | 174,328 | 21,372 | 1h 40m 00s | 6,665 |
|
| 23 | 195,700 | 22,918 | 1h 52m 30s | 7,499 |
|
| 24 | 218,618 | 24,462 | 2h 06m 00s | 8,399 |
|
| 25 | 243,080 | 26,008 | 2h 21m 00s | 9,399 |
Equipment Slot 3 |
| 26 | 269,088 | 27,810 | 2h 37m 30s | 10,498 |
|
| 27 | 296,898 | 28,355 | 2h 55m 30s | 11,698 |
|
| 28 | 325,253 | 32,157 | 3h 15m 30s | 13,032 |
|
| 29 | 357,410 | 32,960 | 3h 37m 30s | 14,498 |
|
| 30 | 390,370 | 4h 01m 30s | 16,098 |
Power 3, Skin 4 |
Companion Hit Points
A companion's base hit points depend on rank, quality and role. The majority have predictable hit points, but a few exceptions exist. The companion's total hit points depend on equipment, runestones, charisma and buffs.
- Augments have 10 hit points for each level they have (so 10 at level 1 and 300 and level 30).
- Controllers have 15% less hit points than Strikers.
- Defenders and Leaders have 10% more hit points than Strikers.
- Uncommon companions have 10% more hit points than common companions.
- Rare companions have 20% more hit points than common companions.
- Epic companions have 25% more hit points than common companions.